Smithfield's DEI Task Force survives effort to dissolve it, for now...

"Let's maintain the town's active involvement in this critical effort and continue this positive work because, quite frankly, I feel that it's needed now more than ever.”

The Smithfield Town Council was efficiently completing Tuesday night's agenda until...

"Item E, consider, discuss, and act upon the dissolution of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force," said Town Council President T. Michael Lawton. "The purpose of the Smithfield DEI Task Force was to advise the town and develop recommendations that further advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the town of Smithfield. ... I just ask [that] we have a nice adult conversation..."

Despite the Council President's ask, at least one member of the public became so overcome with emotion that they cursed and stormed out of the Council Chambers.

David Depasquale: When are you going to stop pandering to all these people? I worked in an industry where we had - you name the racial background - we had it. We all got along. There was never any trouble. Oh yeah, there'd be arguments and discussions and things like that, but people can solve their problems. This business, that the government has to get involved and we have to have committees and we have to have task forces - I think it's a lot of bullshit.

T. Michael Lawton: Thank you. You're done.

David Depasquale: I said what I had to say.

T. Michael Lawton: Thank you very much. I asked to be adults. You said that. I don't know why you did that, Sir.

Despite this minor outburst, for the most part, the discussion was civil. Several members of the public were present to defend the need for the DEI Task Force, while two members of the Town Council, and two members of the public carefully argued for its dissolution.

You can watch the full discussion in the video below:

Council Vice President Michael Iannotti moved to dissolve the DEI Taskforce, but that motion was defeated. “The word ‘task force’ means that it was designed to have a beginning and an end,” said Councilmember Iannotti. “There was no end date put on this. I think that was improper. The task force was supposed to report to the town council with its recommendations on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. No recommendations, to my knowledge, have been received by either the prior town council or this one. This town council met with the task force in a workshop setting on April 11th, at which time we expressed our concerns that nothing was being produced by this task force.

“And so now two years and six months have passed and we have yet to receive any recommendation from the task force.”

Another issue, added Councilmember Iannotti, is that the task force is heavily loaded with government employees. “There are only three residents on the task force and the rest are all government employees: the town manager, the chief of police, a school committee member, [and] school department people. To me, it seems that this is just not an appropriate design for a task force of this nature.”

Councilmember Sean Kilduff defended the task force but agreed that the composition of the committee was not optimal. “Having a board or commission of town employees advising the town is not the best concept,” said Councilmember Kilduff, who argued that the composition of the task force should be altered, not that the committee be dissolved.

Smithfield School Committee member and member of the DEI Task Force Benjamin Caisse agreed that the composition of the task force was problematic, but he defended the work that has been done so far.

“The task force was created in April 2021. The mission was to bring together community members, town leaders, and department heads with the mission of helping to make our community a more welcoming and inviting place not just for our residents but also for businesses,” said Caisse. “The creation of [the Task Force] demonstrated a commitment by the town council for the residents of Smithfield. It was a proactive step that has served - I don't know if you're aware of this - as a model for other communities. Since the creation of [the Task Force], similar task forces or standing committees have been formed in places like Barrington and East Greenwich, to name a few.”

Caisse explained that the committee has been spending its time getting up to speed on DEI. “We started as a group of department heads and community members and we began bringing in a variety of groups to educate us. This is tough stuff, it's very difficult stuff. So we brought in a whole variety of speakers from within the community outside the community. We've started developing community partnerships - baby steps.”

Councilmember Rachel Toppi was not impressed. “I did attend that work session with the task force and I asked two or three times, ‘What are the goals? What does it look like? What does this look like in Smithfield?’ I was met with no answers.

“The only answer I received, from a school department official, is … that they don't want to see any more racial incidents... Of course, we would love that. That is not an achievable goal. They're always going to be children, and adults for that matter, who say stupid things and who act like idiots. You're never going to change everyone's behavior…”

Councilmember Toppi then moved on to some conservative talking points:

“The government does not need to be involved in this - in trying to change people's behavior. I’m all for showing everyone, regardless of how you identify or whatever, respect and kindness, that's common sense. But the government does not need to be involved in changing people's behavior.

“Government is responsible for creating and sustaining markets, enforcing contracts, protecting private property, and producing systems of education and infrastructure that allow commerce to function efficiently. That to me is what government should be involved in and really that's it. I don't understand why we have to be focused on all of our inherent differences when we can be focusing on what we have in common. We all want to live free, prosperous, and happy lives without the government’s intervention. Let's work to promote that instead.”

Councilmember Toppi was in favor of dissolving the task force but encouraged community members interested in DEI issues to create their own private group. Councilmember Iannotti agreed. “This task force model just doesn't work. Why not have something that does work? Why have something we don't need, something that has government involvement, [instead of] a true community task force to bring their concerns to the council or the school committee? A community task force that's truly representative of the community could be much more effective than a task force that's constituted in this manner.”

Elementary School Principal Julie Dorsey noted that Smithfield has around 30 committees. “You just said we have 30 committees [and] you're reviewing all of the committees... What is it about this DEI Task Torce that you're trying to shut this down?”

“I think it's good to take a fresh look at everything,” replied Councilmember Toppi. “That's all I was trying to say.”

Former Town Council President Suzy Alba helped create the DEI Task Force in April 2021. She took the present council to task for not “working collaboratively” with the town’s many boards and commissions. “Many members of the task force, as was stated this evening, were not even notified that this was even an agenda item,” said Alba. “At the most basic level, if the town council's not going to work collaboratively and listen to the commission members themselves, then you're not listening to the residents.”

The most curious public testimony came from Smithfield School Committee Chair Richard Iannitelli, who compared the discussion, and the existence of the DEI Task Force, with his experience of trying to undermine the Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Transitioning Students policy earlier this year. In his comment, Chair Iannitelli criticized the Task Force for meeting with experts to learn about the subject they were tasked with investigating. Chair Iannitelli seems to prefer public opinion to expertise.

“Earlier this year we had a discussion at the school committee. It was quite a few meetings and it dealt with an issue regarding transgender students, whether or not parents should be notified of gender change or not. We had a lot of discussion on it and a lot of people, in a very civil manner and on both sides of the issue, let us know what their thoughts were. There was a small group of people that took to the idea that they should be calling everybody bigots, that they should tell people who did not like a situation that they should move out of town.

“There were people that made attempts or suggestions against school committee members' employment or their families. There were comments against a certain parent regarding his family... That's not welcoming. That's not inclusive. Just because people disagreed with one issue.

“Now, no matter what your side of that issue is, we cannot function if we're not going to allow open debate [and] open discussion among people in this town. If we're not going to be inclusive of ideas, then we might as well be exclusive. I don't want to be in a town where just because you have a certain idea, you're pushed off to the side. One of the reasons it's important [is that] some of these people that were bringing these things up were people that were associated with the Town of Smithfield, and that's not good, including a few on the DEI Task Force, not all on the task force, but a few of them were. That's not inclusive. That's not what we want to do.

“The second thing is, tonight I'm listening [and] I'm hearing people say they don't know how to do it. They need to bring experts. We formed a committee and we have to bring the committee up to speed on something like that? That's not how we do a committee. The people in our town should have their opinions and that's good, and their opinions should come forward, be presented to you in a format you can act on, if you need to act on it, but not make them intelligent on the subject. That's the first time I really heard something like that.”

Smithfield resident Jess Mencunas summed up many of the arguments made for preserving the DEI Task Force:

“…more progress has been made over the summer. More means really positive relationships and partnerships with local libraries, other town entities, and businesses - in fact, some of the more high-profile businesses that we have within town. Completely disbanding this or putting an end to this work would be premature and would disrupt these efforts. Positive and forward thinking work like this takes time and long-term outcomes may not be immediately clear, but the continued support, possibly and I would hope, with a consultant or guidance from some of these established partnerships, will help our town task force members, including the dedicated volunteers who courageously spoke out in support of our town's LGBT youth during school committee meetings, exemplify [why] the DEI Task Force [is needed]. Their powerful statements, questioning what was happening at that time, and noting the importance of perception and [the importance of] protecting the culture and reputation of our town, schools, and youth - [and] across the board, our values. Let's maintain the town's active involvement in this critical effort and continue this positive work because, quite frankly, I feel that it's needed now more than ever.”

The Smithfield Town Council voted 4-0-1 to not dissolve the DEI Task Force. [Councilmember Rachel Toppi abstained.] The council asked for a report from the DEI Task Force by the year’s end.

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